Please remember that for all the joy, wonder and fulfilment we get out of our unique urban forest, we must give back in equal measure to sustain the learning and knowledge that come with special places like Tryon Creek for future generations.

Please consider a special year end donation today!

Friends of Tryon Creek reaches 4,500 children each year through its school field trips.

Schools pay an average of $6 for each child. The Friends actual cost to provide the experience is $20 per child. You, our community of donors and members, make up the huge difference between what schools and families can afford to pay and the real costs to hire staff, recruit and train nature guide volunteers and purchase supplies to run the program. That gap is $63,000.

The children are lucky to have the opportunity to connect with the wonders of nature. We are lucky too, to be able to share hands-on learning experiences in nature, creating a stronger future for our community. The school field trip program is our foundational program, which for many, initiates a life-long connection to nature and science.

These experiences enrich school curriculum, inspire positive relationships with nature and have an impact on the lives of the children we serve. Those positive impacts have a ripple effect on our entire community. When children approach school curriculum from a real world perspective, important concepts like adaptation of structures, functions and team work stick forever in their minds. It is also the spark that fans the fire of curiosity for the science of nature that makes learning the details – the periodic table, algorithms and the scientific method interesting. Science is alive in our forest! The ecologists, doctors and engineers inspired by Tryon’s forest as children are needed to solve the problems of our world.

Here Comes the Sun
Monday – Wednesday,
December 19 – 21
During this camp we will welcome back the return of the sun by celebrating winter solstice. We will feed our winter feathered friends, explore the winter forest and sip hot cocoa. Campers will learn about how winter solstice is celebrated around the globe.

Activities vary from half day to full day camps to be age appropriate.

Homes for Gnomes & other Forest Creatures
Tuesday – Thursday,
December 27 – 29
The weather outside is delightful! During this camp we will explore winter homes. What do animals use for shelter, what are the best things in nature to keep humans dry? Campers will test trees in the forest to see which ones keep them the driest. We will build gnome homes and explore where the little creatures of the forest go for winter.

Activities vary from half day to full day camps to be age appropriate.

It has been forty-six years since Jean Siddall and I, along with a small band of supporters, founded Friends of Tryon Creek to promote a regional park in the Tryon Creek canyon. Pressure for development was imminent and it was clear that any hope for a park needed strong support from the community. Our public effort began with a fund drive on the first Earth Day in April, 1970. Some 310 women from the surrounding neighborhoods went door to door, raising $27,000 from 1,400 donors. The money would be used to take options on properties. Local schools joined in, and the broader community became informed and supportive.

Today the Friends, along with State Park staff, support a flourishing community of park lovers caring for the forest. The Friends activate 1,300 volunteers yearly, dedicated to building and maintaining trails, removing ivy and other invasive plants, and connecting 5,000 children to nature annually through school field trips and day camp programs.

Our successful results are many. I want to salute our talented Friends staff, our dedicated Board of Directors, and our wonderful volunteers. We rely on the community to provide the resources to maintain and grow our effort to inspire and nurture relationships with nature – all of that at Tryon Creek State Natural Area.

I will be forever grateful for the park, the Friends, and the myriad ways they add health, value and connection to our lives.

Please join me by donating to the Founders Circle level at $1,000. Your annual gift provides operation funding and a stable future for the Friends. It is important to me that you continue your loyal support of Tryon – at whatever level is comfortable for you.

See you at the park,

Lucille Beck

Founder and Board Emerita

Give a gift continuing Lu’s legacy

The Andrews Experimental Forest is an old-growth forest, a description largely unknown to the American public until the 1980s, when the spotted owl swooped into notoriety, while at the same time old growth was being liquidated at an unprecedented rate to make way for managed forest crops.

Pacific High: Adventures in the Coast Ranges from Baja to AlaskaAuthor: Tim PalmerSaturday, January 173:30pm

On a crisp January morning, author writer Tim Palmer and his wife set out on a nine-month journey through the Pacific Coast Range. Palmer captures the brilliant wonders of nature and the tragedy of irreversible loss in this journey.

Park Ranger and Mushroom Enthusiast Dane Osis from Fort Stevens State Park will visit Tryon Creek to share his knowledge of mushroom identification and ecology. This program will provide an introduction to the important ecological role that fungi fill as well as helpful tricks and tips for identifying Pacific Northwest mushrooms. We’ll then hit the trail to discover what species live in Tryon Creek State Natural Area.

November is a great time to explore Tryon Creek Forest! Enjoy the day off school exploring the forest! We will play forest games, build forts and stay dry under the forest canopy. School break camps are a smaller version of our summer camps, the group sizes are small and space is limited.

Join us for our monthly Volunteer Community Night and learn about the history of Tryon Creek from 30-year volunteer, Board Member and former Executive Director Stephanie Wagner. This special presentation weaves together the timeline from the logging in the 1800s, to stories from Friends of Tryon Creek founder Lucille Beck and other remarkable people who successfully advocated for the creation of Tryon Creek State Natural Area.

Stephanie Wagner is the Director PSU Center for Science Education and serves on the Oswego Lake Watershed Council and the Natural Resources Advisory Board.

This film on the Oregon Highway 43 culvert, located near the confluence of Tryon Creek and the Willamette River, was produced by Portland State University students: Tarquinn Boyatt, Jeff Heller and Chris Thomson, as part of the Sustainability through the Forest UNST Capstone class, in partnership with instructor Gabe Sheoships, and the Friends of Tryon Creek featuring John Mullen and Carl Axelsen.

Crews are scheduled to close SW Terwilliger on Monday, December 5 and will begin by mobilizing equipment and machinery into the area.

Construction will close SW Terwilliger for up to a year from Highway 43 to the Iron Mountain Trailhead (south of SW Castleridge Lane). Due to narrow roads and lack of shoulders, the road is being closed to safely allow enough space for open trench construction. The closure will also provide a secure staging for large equipment and materials, off neighborhood streets where possible to allow for resident parking.

The new sewer will connect to the 30-inch Tryon Interceptor sewer, which carries sewage to the Tryon Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant in Lake Oswego. This improvement to Portland’s wastewater collection system will help protect water quality, public health, and the environment.